Fresh peas

Picking snap peas, regular peas, chard, lettuce and radish from the garden. Snap peas and chard go well in a stir fry. I've added onion and mushroom to the mix sometimes. Last night ate the stir fry with some teriyaki beef strips Lew had prepared.

Turned over part of the middle bed this morning and added compost from our own compost bin. Then planted these young chard plants that I've grown from seed. Now I'll find out how chard handles the increasing summer heat and humidity.







This is what the beds look like right now.

Nesting birds

Activity on a dead stump caught my eye. After a while I realized brown-headed nuthatches were going to that stump VERY regularly. So I checked it out. Binoculars revealed birds were sticking their heads in a hole and then, one came out with a fecal sac. The nest is about 3 feet from the ground in a shrub stump in the lawn by our driveway.

Elsewhere in the garden a pair of bluebirds has a noisy brood that are probably close to fledging. The adults were not providing frequent food deliveries this afternoon. Instead they'd sit on the box and then go look inside.

Our vegetable garden is growing well. I picked the first snap peas today.

Summer residents are arriving

The summer migrants and residents are pouring through. This morning I heard my first black and white warbler of the year and the first great-crested flycatcher. The yard is full of blue-gray gnatcatchers and I spotted a band on one. Most likely I banded that bird in a previous year. Hopefully it will go into a net and I can find out.

I just checked a nest box that a pair of bluebirds have adopted. Five eggs inside. The adults have stayed even though a local mockingbird really tried to run them off.

The climbing roses are in full bloom; some of the clematis are covered in saucer sized blooms (well a bit smaller than a saucer). In the vegetable garden I'm picking radish and the other cool season crops are coming along.

Oh and talking of nesting. Across the lake there was a pair of Canada Geese accompanied by goslings munching grass.

Banding news. No banding in February or March as weather unfavorable or other commitments. The rain and wind finally gave me a break in April and I'll write these sessions up separately.

New endeavor

This year I plan to keep a running tally on the bird species banded.

SPECIES BANDED: January 16

*American Goldfinch - 2
*Brown Thrasher - 1
*Carolina Wren - 1
*Hermit Thrush - 1
*Myrtle Warbler - 1
*Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1
*White-throated Sparrow - 8

* new species for 2010
~ new species for banding station

TODAY’S BANDING TOTAL
species: 7
individuals: 15

YEARLY BANDING TOTAL (2010)
species: 7
individuals: 15

RECAPTURES TODAY
(with sex and original banding date)

Carolina Chickadee - U - October 4, 2009
Carolina Chickadee - U - November 8, 2009

YEARLY RECAPTURE TOTAL (2010)
species: 1
individuals: 2

Sparrows rule

The temperatures finally warm up to reasonable banding weather in North Carolina, though there is still ice on shaded parts of the lake. A Cardinal was singing. White-throated Sparrows were the most common species banded today; followed by a pair of American Goldfinch, a pair of recaptured Carolina Chickadees, and singles of Brown Thrasher, Hermit Thrush, Carolina Wren, Myrtle Warbler and Ruby-Crowned Kinglet.



On the lake during the cold snap I've counted more Ring-necked Duck then ever before. My count was at 100 one day.

On the gardening front. I've started to remove weeds and prepare one of the vegetable beds; I'm working on seed orders; and the blueberry bushes are pruned.

Kinglets coming through

A short banding session this morning as a front is coming in. Disappointing in the number of birds as only one went in the nets. However that bird is a male Ruby-crowned Kinglet so the kinglets are coming through here. Earlier in the month a White-throated Sparrow went in a net. I've not seen or heard one since then but they are probably here.

The dogwood berries are uneaten, so far. Starlings are beginning to mass in trees across the lake so probably not be long before a flock of starlings comes to eat the berries. There is very little activity at the bird feeders.

Successful end to the season

I ran my last MAPS banding session on Sunday for this season. The number of birds banded was much higher than I expected for this late in the summer doldrums. There was high humidity and I ended the session early because of a downpour. Six birds banded and one recapture. The recapture was a female cardinal and one of the first birds I banded at this station. She was originally banded exactly two years ago as an AHY. The new bandees were mainly fledglings and several still had sets of feathers growing in.